1962 Ford Galaxie - Higher Power

The Dow Jones closes 1962 at 652 point. Singers wear suits, high-water pants, and crew cuts. Kids pray in school. Guys named John change the world: Johnny Carson begins a 30-year run hosting the Tonight show, John Glenn orbits the Earth, and John Kennedy faces down the Soviet Union over commie missiles in Cuba. America's institutions were still on postwar autopilot as the struggles that defined the 1960s had not yet boiled over—Viet Nam, hippies, protests, radical counterculture. It was a different time. Even in 1962 we were still in the 1950s.

Detroit still ruled the world. Big, fullsize cars were America's default design, though new downsized lines—Skylark, Chevy II, Cutlass, Valiant—were appearing. Ford's compact Falcon had proved to be a smash hit, and the new Fairlane, which was not as small as the Falcon, was just hitting the showrooms. Fairlane would come into its own for the 1963 model year, becoming the last Ford with fins and the first Ford available with the legendary HiPo 289.

2/7Photoshop trickery allows you to see through the air cleaner to the triple Holley 2300s feeding the 390. The multiple carb throats raised the engine's peak hp and torque.

But the big action, for at least a couple more years, was still on the fullsize car. It got the biggest engines, the highest power, racing development, and all the attention due a heavyweight champion.

Detroit's Big Three were engaged in a duel of wits, each trying to surpass one another's latest blockbuster engine. Ford, having watched archrival Chevrolet introduce the Super Sport package the previous year, was developing its own sporty package that would be part of a major midyear release.

At the open of the 1962 model year, the engine and drivetrain choices were carryovers from 1961. Topping the list was the 375hp 390 four-barrel High Performance engine, a strong descendant of the 1960 360hp 352, only with the valve spring problems corrected, and a 10 percent boost in displacement thanks to a little more bore and a lot more stroke. It still had the open element breather, solid-lifter cam, individual runner exhaust manifolds, dual-point distributor, and high 10.6:1 compression ratio—a full point higher than the standard 300hp passenger car 390.

3/7It's hard to believe this immaculate interior is 50 years old! Note the tri-tone color scheme in the upholstery and door panels and the engine-turning on the dash. Ford didn't scrimp on style when designing this Galaxie.

Dearborn took the mission seriously. The block was a separate casting with thicker bulkheads, extra reinforcing ribs, and larger oil passages. The crank was standard cast-iron passenger car issue, but pistons were X-rayed for cracks and flaws, and rods were forged steel.

Ford's automatic transmission design was still based in the 1950s, so the powerful 390 was available only with a manual transmission: three-speed or three-speed overdrive. The standard axle ratios were 3.56:1 for the three-speed and a steeper 4.11:1 for the overdrive. But options were available from 3.40:1 way up to 5.83:1.

Ford even beefed up the suspension, adding heavy-duty springs and shocks front and rear, fade-resistant brake shoes, larger 3-inch-wide brake drums, 15-inch wheels, nylon-ply tires, a heavy-duty 3-inch-diameter driveshaft, and a four-pinion differential. It even threw in two-speed wipers, and all for the $254.10 that the four-barrel cost.

It was a stout package, but if that just wasn't enough, you could order the six-barrel version, which got you the same engine, only topped with a trio of Holley 2300s, bumping rated horsepower up to 401.

Another midyear release was being readied by an up-and-coming Ford executive who worked his way through truck sales and was now rising through the ranks of senior management, Lee Iacocca. It would include yet another increase in maximum displacement—from 390 to 406—and a boost in power too: 385 for the 406 four-barrel and 405 for the 406 six-barrel.

Also midyear, the big Fords would get a performance package, the Galaxie 500/XL, featuring cool exterior badging, a buckets-and-console interior, and an optional engine threshold, beneath which the XL was not available.

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Ford's 1962 styling was tame and conservative, not noted for any great features that collectors pursue today. The 1963 and 1964 models have proven to be more popular. But that just makes the 1962 that much rarer.

This amazing 1962 Galaxie 500 is an unrestored, early-production hardtop, built at the Louisville, Kentucky, plant and still wearing its original coat of Code V Chestnut Diamond Lustre enamel. The T-bird–type roof, introduced in mid-1959, was top-of-the-line style until the arrival of the 1963½ fastback. In the matching Chestnut vinyl interior, also original, is an old-school three-on-the-tree column shifter, a big bench seat, and a full-width heavy floor mat. Check out the tri-tone door panels and engine-turned dash insets. Another holdover from previous design is the left-side ignition switch, located at the far left of the dash. The axle is an open 3.50:1 9-inch with "one wheel peel."

Mike Patak, a collector and dealer in Blair, Nebraska, is the lucky owner. The car's background is mostly unknown, but Mike knows that it came from Texas. At our photo shoot the odometer registered just 49,875 miles.

So many even greater things were just a year or two away, but 1962 was really the year the muscle car kettle began to boil over. Chevrolet's Super Sport and dual-quad 409 were in their first full year of production, Pontiac was hitting the heights with its 421 Catalina and Grand Prix, Mopar released its mighty Max Wedge 413, and NASCAR, NHRA, and the street scene were all attracting crowds like never before. Things were heating up for Detroit's hottest cars, and 1962 was a breakout year.

6/7A heavy-duty suspension and 15-inch tires and wheels were among the upgrades you'd get when ordering the high-performance 390. The dog-dish hubcaps look perfect on this car.

Ford offered two 390 six-barrel engines for 1962: a 340hp version (M-Code, $242.10) in the Thunderbird and a 401hp six-barrel in the fullsize Ford. The Thunderbird 390 six-barrel used a low-profile (for hood clearance) aluminum intake installed on the regular production, 300hp 390 with single-point distributor, 10.5:1 compression, and the horrible "log" exhaust manifolds. While stylish and good for a 40hp boost, it was not in the same league as the Galaxie's 390 six-barrel. The Galaxie 390 was a much more aggressive engine. Based on the 1961 Hi-Performance 390, it had a different block, solid lifters, higher 10.6:1 compression, a dual-point distributor, and individual-runner exhaust manifolds.